Preparations for taking the Transocean Winner oil rig away from the Western Isles are being stepped up today.
Salvage teams plan to lift the 17,600 semi-submersible vessel onto the OHT Hawk carrier vessel on the weekend.
If the weather holds this afternoon, the team on Briggs Environmental’s Forth Drummer ship will carry out a “boom deployment exercise”.
The exercise will last about three hours and will test response times ahead of the operation to transfer the rig onto Hawk.
Transocean Winner is currently anchored in Broad Bay off the east coast of the Isle of Lewis.
The rig was taken there in August after being successfully refloated off the west coast, where it ran aground earlier the same month following a storm.
Once aboard Hawk, it will be taken to Turkey for scrapping.